Jack Radey

Last updated

Jack Radey (born 1947, Chicago, Illinois) is an American military historian and wargame designer. He set up People's War Games. He was a draft resister, and activist in the Vietnam anti-war movement. [1]

Contents

He became interested in wargames when his school friend, David D. Friedman taught him how to play Tactics II. [2] Radey related how Friedman and himself wrote to Charles S. Roberts claiming that they had found a first turn winning strategy foreach of the two sides. Roberts replied that their interpretation of the rules was valid. [2] He later moved to Merced, California where he graduated in 1964. [3] [4]

Jack also developed an early interest in politics: his mother's family were refugees from the Nazi regime in Germany. [4] He was influenced by both the Civil Rights Movement and the Cuban Revolution, and went to work for the Communist Party of the United States of America both as a chauffeur/body guard for Gus Hall as well as for their education department. [4] In 1964 he went to the University of California in Berkeley where he was involved with the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, getting arrested during the Sproul Hall sit-in.

Radey's political sympathies influenced his decision to publish his first game Korsun Pocket, which dealt with the Soviet Union's Red Army's victory at the Battle of the Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket. When interviewed by Fire & Movement he denied that his sympathies made his game biased, but rather condemned writers such as Paul Carell and Simulations Publications, Inc. for bias. He argued that the role of a wargame designer was to "teach something real about history" and said he hoped that the wargaming hobby would "promote peace not war and treat history with the respect it deserves". [4] Radey also said that he supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which had started at the end of 1979. [4]

Games

The following games by Radey were published by People's War Games: [3]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David D. Friedman</span> American economist, physicist, legal scholar, author, and libertarian theorist (born 1945)

David Director Friedman is an American economist, physicist, legal scholar, and anarcho-capitalist theorist. Although his academic training was in chemistry and physics and not law or economics, he is known for his textbook writings on microeconomics and the libertarian theory of anarcho-capitalism, which is the subject of his most popular book, The Machinery of Freedom. Described by Walter Block as a "free-market anarchist" theorist, Friedman has also authored several other books and articles, including Price Theory: An Intermediate Text (1986), Law's Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It Matters (2000), Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life (1996), and Future Imperfect (2008).

<i>PanzerBlitz</i> World War II board wargame published in 1970

PanzerBlitz is a tactical-scale board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1970 that simulates armored combat set on the Eastern Front of World War II. The game, which was the most popular board wargame of the 1970s, is notable for being the first true board-based tactical-level, commercially available conflict simulation wargame. It also pioneered several concepts that would become industry standards.

Korsun may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles S. Roberts Award</span>

The Charles S. Roberts Awards is an annual award for excellence in manual, tabletop games, with a focus on "conflict simulations", which includes simulations of non-military as well as military conflicts, as well as simulations of related historical topics. From its founding in 1975 through 2021, the award was almost exclusively focused on historical wargaming, changing to a broader "conflict simulations" in award year 2022.

<i>Decisive Battles of WWII: Korsun Pocket</i> 2003 video game

Decisive Battles of WWII Vol 2: Korsun Pocket is a computer wargame developed by the Strategic Studies Group (SSG). It is the second game in the Decisive Battles of WWII series, following Decisive Battles of WWII: The Ardennes Offensive (1997).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loren Wiseman</span> American role-playing game designer

Loren Keith Wiseman was an American wargame and role-playing game designer, game developer and editor.

<i>D-Day</i> (game) Board game

D-Day is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1961 that simulates the six months of the European Campaign of World War II from the Normandy Invasion to the crossing of the Rhine. It was the first wargame to feature the now ubiquitous hex grid map and cardboard counters, and was revised and re-released in 1962, 1965, 1971, 1977 and 1991.

Matrix Games is a publisher of PC games, specifically strategy games and wargames. It is based in Ohio, US, and Surrey, UK.

<i>Battle for Germany</i>

Battle for Germany is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates World War II operations in Germany during 1945

Panzer Leader is the sequel to Avalon Hill's PanzerBlitz game.

<i>Gettysburg</i> (game) American Civil War board wargame published in 1958

Gettysburg is a board wargame produced by Avalon Hill in 1958 that re-enacts the American Civil War battle of Gettysburg. The game rules were groundbreaking in several respects, and the game, revised several times, was a bestseller for Avalon Hill for several decades.

Task Force Games was a game company started in 1979 by Allen Eldridge and Stephen V. Cole. TFG published many games, most notably including both Star Fleet Battles and the Starfire series of games, which were later novelized by David Weber into such books as In Death Ground, The Shiva Option and Insurrection. Eldridge sold the company to New World Computing in 1988, which became a division of The 3DO Company in 1996 and went out of business in 2003.

<i>Stalingrad</i> (wargame) 1963 board wargame

Stalingrad is a strategic-level board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1963 that simulates the first 24 months of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. As one of the first board wargames it was extensively played and discussed during the early years of the wargaming hobby.

<i>Twilight Struggle</i> Board game

Twilight Struggle: The Cold War, 1945–1989 is a board game for two players, published by GMT Games in 2005. Players are the United States and Soviet Union contesting each other's influence on the world map by using cards that correspond to historical events. The first game designed by Ananda Gupta and Jason Matthews, they intended it to be a quick-playing alternative to more complex card-driven wargames.

<i>Panzergruppe Guderian</i> (game) 1976 WWII board wargame

Panzergruppe Guderian is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications, Inc. in 1976 that simulates the 1941 Battle of Smolensk during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer wargame</span> Wargame played on a computer or other digital device

A computer wargame is a wargame played on a digital device. Descended from board wargaming, it simulates military conflict at the tactical, operational or strategic level. Computer wargames are both sold commercially for recreational use and, in some cases, used for military purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Simonitch</span>

Mark Simonitch is an American wargame designer and graphic artist. His game designs include Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage and Ardennes '44, and he has made maps for Wilderness War and Empire of the Sun among others. He has worked at Avalon Hill and GMT Games. He was inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ty Bomba</span> American board game designer

Tyrone S. Bomba is a prolific American board wargame designer, credited as the designer of over 125 board wargames and game items. Bomba is the recipient of the James F. Dunnigan Award, has been inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame for his contributions to the wargaming industry, and several of his games have won Charles S. Roberts Awards.

<i>Korsun Pocket: Little Stalingrad on the Dnepr</i> Board wargame

Korsun Pocket: Little Stalingrad on the Dnepr is a board wargame published by People's War Games (PWG) in 1979 that simulates the Battle of Korsun–Shevchenkovsky during World War II.

<i>Four Battles of Army Group South</i> Collection of four board wargames published in 1979

Four Battles of Army Group South is a collection of four board wargames published in 1979 by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) that simulate various battles between German and Soviet forces on the Eastern Front of World War II.

References

  1. ↑ Radey, Jack (26 December 2017). "Connections 1999: The long-lost AAR". PAXsims. Archived from the original on 30 July 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 Serval, Fred. "Jack Radey part 1 - The Origins of People's War Games". Homo Ludens. Fred Serval. Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Jack Radey: Board Game Designer | BoardGameGeek". boardgamegeek.com. Board Game Geek. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Helfferich, Friedrich (1980). "F & M Interview Red Star Rising". Fire & Movement (#21): 44–48.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.